TO: Video Team FROM: Eric Scheetz SUBJECT: Focus Group Session DATE: March 28, 2010 Here is my report on a focus group I ran with five male students at Towson University on how each of them watches television shows and movies. I was able to cover all five questions my team and I developed. All my participants have downloaded or illegally streamed shows or movies to their computers. They do not feel as though this is wrong, and consider this a better alternative to renting or going to the theater. Focus Group Rationale
Premium video content is increasingly being delivered through the Internet; giving Gen-Y many different was to access TV shows and movies. As a result broadcast TV audiences are being fragmented and the movie industry can no longer assume that box office revenues alone will pay for the production of new movies. The rationale for our focus group sessions is to determine how Gen-Y currently watches premium video and which broadband technologies they prefer. This information will allow us to advise Proximity clients on how best to target Gen-Y using ads associated with premium content. Setting and Participants
I held a 45 minute session in my apartment on Friday, March 19, 2010. The Towson University students that participated were: ·Lance, 20, a TU Marketing major ·Mike, 21, a TU Criminal Justice major ·Joe, 21, a TU Marketing major ·Pat, 20, a TU Psychology major ·Fran, 21, a TU Sports Management major Session Topics We covered the following five topics during the session Where do you primarily watch TV shows? All of them said it is a combination of watching shows on cable and on the internet. Most primetime shows are watched at some other time on the internet because most of them stated they were too busy to watch them at their scheduled time at night. How many movies do you see in the theaters compared to movies you watch at home? Primarily they all watched movies at home. The general consensus was that going to the movie theater was more of a social event, and that if it was not a big group going or a date they would rather download they movie illegally. Mike went the most claiming he sees a movie in the theaters about once a month; the others were about one every 2-3 months. Pat went to the theater the least since he has not been there in 6 months. Would you rather buy or rent movies on DVD or on digital files? The group agreed that when seeing a movie for the first time they would rather rent it, but if it was a movie they like they would buy it. All of them except Lance however have not bought a movie in years. Lance said he probably buys a movie every month or two. How important is the size and quality of the screen you use to watch TV and movies? There was a mix in opinion here. Lance said that the bigger the screen the better, and that he hated watching movies on small screens. Fran and Pat however said that they will watch it on anything and liked watching video of their laptops or phones. Mike and Joe both said they like the bigger screens but it would not bother them if they only had a smaller screen. Quality was not as important of a factor. Have you illegally downloaded video? Do you believe you are doing something wrong while stealing multimedia off the web? They all said that they illegally download videos weekly. None of them believe they are doing something wrong. Some justifications were that they know so many other people are doing it and there were not going to get caught or fined for it. Also they said it is so easily available and there are many sources so they feel they are allowed to do it. Lance’s feeling towards downloading illegally was, “There’s so many people and groups after your money, when you can get something for free take it.” Findings This focus group session revealed the following about Towson University students: ·They watch illegally steamed and downloaded movies and shows on their computer, and they do not feel it is wrong to do so ·Going out to movies is looked at as more of a social event than as entertainment ·Most of them do not buy DVDs These findings should be compared with the other sessions to see if this is a campus wide view of movies or not. This group uses mostly the computer to watch movies and TV shows. The group also discussed how they feel as though this cannot go on much longer and see some sort of regulation on the horizon. Movie and Television revenues must be hurting from this new outlet of video entertainment and they will do something about it soon.
TO: Video Team
FROM: Eric Scheetz
SUBJECT: Focus Group Session
DATE: March 28, 2010
Here is my report on a focus group I ran with five male students at Towson University on how each of them watches television shows and movies. I was able to cover all five questions my team and I developed. All my participants have downloaded or illegally streamed shows or movies to their computers. They do not feel as though this is wrong, and consider this a better alternative to renting or going to the theater.
Focus Group Rationale
Premium video content is increasingly being delivered through the Internet; giving Gen-Y many different was to access TV shows and movies. As a result broadcast TV audiences are being fragmented and the movie industry can no longer assume that box office revenues alone will pay for the production of new movies. The rationale for our focus group sessions is to determine how Gen-Y currently watches premium video and which broadband technologies they prefer. This information will allow us to advise Proximity clients on how best to target Gen-Y using ads associated with premium content.
Setting and Participants
I held a 45 minute session in my apartment on Friday, March 19, 2010. The Towson University students that participated were:
· Lance, 20, a TU Marketing major
· Mike, 21, a TU Criminal Justice major
· Joe, 21, a TU Marketing major
· Pat, 20, a TU Psychology major
· Fran, 21, a TU Sports Management major
Session Topics
We covered the following five topics during the session
Where do you primarily watch TV shows?
All of them said it is a combination of watching shows on cable and on the internet. Most primetime shows are watched at some other time on the internet because most of them stated they were too busy to watch them at their scheduled time at night.
How many movies do you see in the theaters compared to movies you watch at home?
Primarily they all watched movies at home. The general consensus was that going to the movie theater was more of a social event, and that if it was not a big group going or a date they would rather download they movie illegally. Mike went the most claiming he sees a movie in the theaters about once a month; the others were about one every 2-3 months. Pat went to the theater the least since he has not been there in 6 months.
Would you rather buy or rent movies on DVD or on digital files?
The group agreed that when seeing a movie for the first time they would rather rent it, but if it was a movie they like they would buy it. All of them except Lance however have not bought a movie in years. Lance said he probably buys a movie every month or two.
How important is the size and quality of the screen you use to watch TV and movies?
There was a mix in opinion here. Lance said that the bigger the screen the better, and that he hated watching movies on small screens. Fran and Pat however said that they will watch it on anything and liked watching video of their laptops or phones. Mike and Joe both said they like the bigger screens but it would not bother them if they only had a smaller screen. Quality was not as important of a factor.
Have you illegally downloaded video? Do you believe you are doing something wrong while stealing multimedia off the web?
They all said that they illegally download videos weekly. None of them believe they are doing something wrong. Some justifications were that they know so many other people are doing it and there were not going to get caught or fined for it. Also they said it is so easily available and there are many sources so they feel they are allowed to do it. Lance’s feeling towards downloading illegally was, “There’s so many people and groups after your money, when you can get something for free take it.”
Findings
This focus group session revealed the following about Towson University students:
· They watch illegally steamed and downloaded movies and shows on their computer, and they do not feel it is wrong to do so
· Going out to movies is looked at as more of a social event than as entertainment
· Most of them do not buy DVDs
These findings should be compared with the other sessions to see if this is a campus wide view of movies or not. This group uses mostly the computer to watch movies and TV shows. The group also discussed how they feel as though this cannot go on much longer and see some sort of regulation on the horizon. Movie and Television revenues must be hurting from this new outlet of video entertainment and they will do something about it soon.